One of the best at what he does.

Fringe stalwart Nathan Cassidy returns with a shift in tone — less swagger, more substance — but still armed with that razor-sharp wit and glint-in-the-eye mischief we’ve come to expect.

David Bowie summed it up perfectly: artists are magpies — they borrow, steal, and present it as their own. But what happens when someone nicks your shiny thing?

The premise? Art, ownership, and the grey area in between.

At the heart of the show is a comic mystery whodunit: Cassidy believes a fellow performer has lifted a skit he once wrote and used it to storm a bigger venue. Is it homage, theft, coincidence — or something more complicated? The joke, of course, is that it kills either way. So who really owns or creates a bit?

From there, Piracy widens its lens to a broader cultural swipe file. Cassidy runs through examples of artistic borrowing, big and small: Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy, Amy Schumer and the internet, Ed Sheeran and just about everyone. There are nods to comedy turf wars, Bobby Davro anecdotes, and simmering questions of one-upmanship and envy.

But this isn’t just inside comic nerdery. Woven throughout is a more personal thread — reflections on childhood, misdirection, family, and trauma. Cassidy steers it with a light touch, never overplaying the sentiment, but letting it quietly ground the bigger questions. There are even a couple of songs — not tacked-on novelty numbers, but tonal pivots that sneak up on you.

What really sets the show apart, though, is Cassidy himself — the glue. His crowd work is elite. Whether bantering with willing participants or swatting down curveballs from wannabe heckler nymphs, he manages it all with the calm precision of a UN peace envoy with a mic. He’s a comic who thinks on his feet but also cares about structure. This is a properly thought-out show — sharp, efficient, and deftly executed.

You won’t leave Piracy with all the answers — but you will laugh a lot. And if you’re lucky, you might just start asking better questions the next time you hear a song and think… hang on, that sounds like…